An old show business adage is that everyone wants to get in on the act, which is what's happening in Sacramento as legislators scramble to propose bills to give tax breaks to Hollywood to keep and develop entertainment jobs in California.

Whether Mayor Eric Garcetti's open letter urging CBS to move “The Late Show” to Los Angeles was a political stunt or a savvy business move - or both - he's clearly making runaway production a key issue, even if he can't stop it himself. Just hours after longtime “Late Show” host David Letterman announced plans to retire in 2015, Garcetti released a note he sent to CBS chief Les Moonves encouraging him to move the next version of the show to Los Angeles. He wrote: “I have made the entertainment industry a key priority for my administration.

Dealing with a taxing issue More than 15.4 million people -- roughly 10% of all tax filers -- will owe more taxes than they expected because of the Making Work Pay tax credit. Who's affected? Mostly, people with more than one job, two-income couples filing jointly, and workers also receiving Social Security or pension payments. A single tax filer who held the same job all year should not be affected. How can you find out if you have underpaid your taxes? The Internal Revenue Service has an online withholding calculator at www.irs.

SACRAMENTO - Proposed legislation aimed at providing more tax credits to attract so-called runaway movie and television productions back to the industry's birthplace in California won initial approval from a legislative committee Tuesday. The proposal would renew and increase a state tax credit - amounting to as much as $400 million a year - to better compete with generous tax subsidies available in more than 40 states, including New York, Louisiana, New York and Michigan, as well as studios in Canada and Britain.

The state Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill to continue funding California's film and television tax credit. The Senate vote was 32 to 2 in favor of extending two more years of funding for the tax credit. California sets aside $100 million toward the program, which gives movie and TV producers a credit of up to 25% of qualified production expenses. The Assembly approved the bill earlier this month. The measure now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has one month to sign or veto the legislation.

The state Assembly approved a bill that would extend California's film and television tax credit program for five more years, a move that was widely welcomed by labor unions and film industry promoters. The bill, approved by a 72-1 vote, would provide an additional $500 million in funding for the film tax credit program, which expires in fiscal year 2014. The measure now moves to the state Senate, where a vote is expected this summer. It's not clear, however, whether Gov. Jerry Brown, who has proposed steep cuts in state spending to balance California's budget, will support the measure.

It seems there is a way to get conservatives to support government handouts: Hand them out to conservatives. As Times staff writers Alana Semuels aud Seema Mehta reported, Mitt Romney is getting himself into trouble with Republican voters in swing states such as Iowa by supporting a bedrock Republican principle: He wants to end the production tax credit for wind energy and force power producers to compete on an even playing field with no...

This year's $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers has attracted as many as 90,000 ineligible claimants -- including a 4-year-old child -- raising questions about efforts to extend the popular program. In all, tax credit claims totaling more than $600 million are suspicious, tax officials testified Thursday before Congress. The credit, on home sales to first-time buyers that close through Nov. 30, is an important piece of the $787-billion stimulus package enacted in February and is part of the Obama administration's effort to lift housing sales.

It isn't too often that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a pro-environment Democrat from California, and Sen. Tom Coburn, a "drill, baby, drill" Republican from Oklahoma, agree on energy issues. Yet when it comes to the ethanol tax credit, an egregious form of corporate welfare that unites liberals and conservatives in opposition nationwide, they are of one mind. That's why it was disheartening Tuesday when an attempt to end the subsidy and save taxpayers nearly $6 billion a year went down in flames in the Senate.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a bill which triples that state's post-production tax credit, a punch in the gut to Southern California's own film and TV community already struggling to keep business in the Golden State. The law increases the credit to 30% (35% for upstate New York), from 10%, on post-production costs and is the first of its kind in the country, said the Post New York Alliance, an association of film and television post-production facilities and labor unions operating in New York.

SACRAMENTO -- Legislation aimed at extending California's film production tax credit won unanimous bipartisan support from its first committee. The bill is urgently needed to give California an incentive to lure movie and television production back to its birthplace and combat generous tax subsidies now available in more than 40 states, such as Louisiana, New York and Michigan, supporters said. The state's current film tax credit, $100 million a year, is set to expire this year.

When the producers of “Last Days in the Desert” needed an environment for their biblical allegory, they knew just where to travel. They headed 31/2 hours southeast of Los Angeles to one of the largest state parks in the country. Spanning 600,000 acres, hundreds of miles of dirt roads and a dozen wilderness areas, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has been an attractive, if underused, film location, featured in such movies as Warren Beatty's “Bugsy” and the Universal Pictures action film “The Scorpion King.” But the producers behind “Last Days in the Desert” liked the park so much that they opted to shoot all 24 days in the vast wilderness, which is named after 18th century Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza.

February 22, 2014 | By Richard Verrier, This post has been corrected. See note at the bottom for details.

More than 1,000 entertainment industry workers gathered in Burbank on Saturday, launching a campaign to support an expansion of California's film and TV tax credit program. The rally, organized by a coalition of entertainment industry unions, drew an unusually large swath of set decorators, prop makers, grips, camera operators and other technicians who filled two conference rooms at the Pickwick Gardens on Riverside Drive. They were urged by union leaders to volunteer their services and write emails and letters to state lawmakers in support of legislation recently introduced by Assemblymen Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima)

Moss Adams, one of the nation's largest accounting firms, has launched an online exchange for trading film and other tax credits. Called the Moss Adams Tax Credit Exchange , the marketplace allows film producers and other companies with tax credits to match up with buyers, converting credits they can't use into cash they can reinvest in their business. Buyers can purchase credits online, helping them offset state taxes owed. “We're proud to bring the exchange to our clients and future members and expect it to transform the way tax credits are purchased and sold,” said Rob O'Neill, state and local tax partner at Moss Adams.

SACRAMENTO - California's two top legislative leaders - both Democrats - have their eyes on 2014 as California faces big challenges in continuing to improve the state's still underperforming economy. They're pleased that after years of austerity, the Assembly and Senate along with Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown have stabilized the state's budget, raising revenues, keeping spending in check and even socking away money for future downturns. Even so, state unemployment remained high at 8.5% in November, despite a quickening job creation pace.

Hollywood stakeholders are calling on California to bolster its film and TV tax credit to keep its homegrown industry from permanently leaving the state. Film industry and union officials are mobilizing to back legislation this year that would substantially increase funding for the state's film incentive program and lift some restrictions to make the program more competitive with those offered by New York, Georgia and other states and countries. "The bottom line is, these countries and these states realize what production means to them, and we have to show them [lawmakers]

A state bill aimed at curbing runaway production has moved closer to becoming law. The Assembly Appropriations Committee unanimously supported a bill that would extend funding for California's film and television tax credit program. Funding for the program is due to expire next year. California sets aside $100 million annually for dozens of projects applying for credits between 20% and 25% of qualified production expenses for movies and TV shows. The bill, however, was amended to provide for an extension of two years instead of five years.

The California Assembly overwhelmingly approved a bill that would preserve funding for the state's film and television tax credit. The Assembly voted 70-4 in favor of the bill, which extends funding for the program another two years. California allocates $100 million annually toward tax credits, which are doled out by lottery because of limited funds. Funding was due to expire next year. The film industry had been pressing for a five-year extension to show the state's commitment to the industry, which is being lured away by other states with strong incentives.

WASHINGTON - Jennifer Tadlock doesn't yet have all the talent lined up for the small-budget dramatic action feature she hopes to film next year, let alone a full crew. But she does have a tax break, and it's expiring, which was enough to get her behind the camera last month. Tadlock spent about $500 to hire a skeletal crew and nonunion talent to film just one scene near her home in Fresno. "We did the makeup ourselves," she said. The scene, involving teenagers plotting to harass an elderly woman, may never appear in the final cut. But by shooting this year, Tadlock hopes to lock in place the tax break that was key for investors who put up the $6 million she'll need to shoot "Shades of Grace" for real next year.

ATLANTA - Ric Reitz makes movies. He helped bankroll the Matt Damon thriller "Contagion," Clint Eastwood's "Trouble With the Curve" and the Robert Downey comedy "Due Date. " Reitz, an energetic 58-year-old, doesn't hang out at the Polo Lounge, red-carpet premieres or swank offices in Century City. Instead, he works out of a former cotton mill near Martin Luther King Jr.'s boyhood home, hustling for business at Chamber of Commerce dinners and Rotary Club lunches. Recently, he was looking forward to attending a meeting of prosperous chicken farmers.